CREATOUR OVERVIEW
CREATOUR: Creative Tourism Destination Development Desenvolver Destinos de Turismo Criativo in Small Cities and Rural Areas em Cidades de Pequena Dimensão e Áreas Rurais
1 November 2016 – 31 October 2019
Project 016437, supported by European funds (through COMPETE2020, POR Lisboa, POR Algarve) and by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology. RESEARCH PARTNERS CES: Centro de Estudos Sociais, Universidade de Coimbra (lead) Lead of CES team: Nancy Duxbury CIDEHUS: Centro Interdisciplinar de História, Culturas e Sociedades, Universidade de Évora Lead of CIDEHUS team: Ana Ferreira CIEO: Research Centre for Spatial and Organizational Dynamics, Universidade do Algarve Lead of CIEO team: Alexandra Gonçalves DINAMIA’CET: Centro de Estudos sobre a Mudança Socioecónomica e o Território, ISCTE -‐ Instituto Universitário de Lisboa Lead of DINAMIA’CET team: Pedro Costa Lab2PT: Laboratório de Paisagens, Património e Território, Universidade do Minho Lead of Lab2PT team: Paula Remoaldo OTHER PARTICIPANTS Cultural partners will be selected through calls for cultural/creative organizations to participate in CREATOUR through developing creative tourism offers and cooperating with researchers. The first call for participants will be released in November 2016. In addition, tourism organizations and businesses, social/civic organizations, and other local businesses will be invited to participate in the project’s events, and to become involved in cross-‐sectoral partnerships and clusters. QUESTIONS? For further information, contact: Dr. Nancy Duxbury Centro de Estudos Sociais (CES) Universidade de Coimbra Email:
[email protected] Mobile: +351 910109665
CREATOUR
PROJECT OVERVIEW CREATOUR is an incubator/demonstration and multidisciplinary research initiative, supporting collaborative research processes. The three-‐year project aims to connect the cultural/creative and tourism sectors through the development of an integrated research and application approach to catalyzing creative tourism in small cities and rural areas throughout Portugal. Creative tourism involves active learning experiences enabling self-‐expression and creative skill development, with a more extensive relationship between tourism and creative industries emerging, and with platforms making the distribution of this content possible. An essential feature in this process is the firm link of creativity to place and its embeddedness in the local milieu, promoting the visitor an immersion experience within the local culture and local institutions and generating economic and social added value to the region. CREATOUR involves five research centres working with a range of cultural/creative organizations and other stakeholders located in small cities across Portugal in the Norte, Centro, Alentejo and Algarve regions. CREATOUR's design builds on a twofold approach – theory and experimentation – which explicitly nurtures applied experimentation and the implementation of Pilots that diversify tourism offers and deepen connections between cultural/creative and tourism organizations in these areas. The project aims to develop a sustainable creative tourism sector to boost tourism in small cities and rural areas as well as to contribute meaningfully to local cultural vibrancy and holistic development in pilot communities. It is informed by theoretical and methodological approaches from cultural/creative sector development, tourism, and regional development. It is organized using the key dimensions of support to enhance value for creative sector development as a framework: 1) build knowledge and capacity, 2) support content development and link creativity to place, and 3) strengthen network and cluster formation.1 CREATOUR integrates with and explicitly addresses National and Regional Smart Specialization priority areas while building on three interlinking dimensions of recent cultural/creative industries development in Portugal: 1) the development of artistic and creative industry hubs (“arts centres” or “creative factories”) in former industrial factories or in restored heritage sites in many small cities; 2) the (re)vitalization and valorization of tangible and intangible cultural traditions; and 3) the growth and development -‐ and heightened visibility -‐ of culture-‐ and design-‐related creative products. CREATOUR will build the capacity of cultural/creative agents to develop, implement, and refine an array of attractive creative tourism experiences and will have a direct applicability for regional sectorial strategies and public policies. This project will be pursued in an open international context, continuously engaging with creative tourism researchers and initiatives globally and advised by an international advisory council.
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OECD (2014). Tourism and the Creative Economy. OECD Studies on Tourism, OECD Publishing.
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OBJECTIVES The project’s overall objective is to develop and pilot an integrated approach and research agenda for creative tourism in Portuguese small cities and rural areas. Specific Scientific Objectives 1. To improve the level of knowledge and systematic analysis about creative tourism in small cities and rural areas in Portugal 2. To understand the processes (under different conditions and situations) through which creative tourism activities can be effectively developed, implemented, and made sustainable 3. To understand how an integrated approach to creative tourism may provide feasible options to improve the stability of cultural/creative organizations of small cities and rural areas 4. To assess the multidimensional impacts (economic, cultural, social, environmental) of creative tourism activities in small cities and rural areas on cultural/creative organizations, on tourism, and on local development generally Specific Application Objectives 5. To develop strong and sustainable partnerships between public and private stakeholders in each region to enhance the positive impacts of tourism for local and regional development and residents’ daily lives 6. To contribute to the diversification of tourism offers by creating memorable, unique and linked-‐to-‐place creative experiences for tourists 7. To capitalize on new technologies (e.g. smart phone app, Augmented Reality) to provide contemporary creative experiences that meet the demands of creative tourists, based on cultural and historical heritages and local identities KEY COMPONENTS / ACTIVITIES Three interlinking dimensions are core to the CREATOUR’s incubator/demonstration dimension: IdeaLabs, Pilot Initiatives, and Strengthening Network/Cluster Formation. These dimensions are informed and guided by multidisciplinary Research activities, knowledge-‐ advancing Annual Conferences, and the development of a range of Publications and other outputs. IdeaLabs IdeaLabs focus on providing support for content development and linking creativity to place. They provide regular points of contact to guide development of pilot initiatives [Obj.2,6], support other project actions (cultural mapping; post-‐pilot reflections and evaluations; and post-‐project sustainability discussions), and foster intra-‐ and interregional organizational connections among cultural/creative organizations and with the tourism sector [Obj.5]. Each year, two regional IdeaLabs will take place in each project region (3x2x4=24 total). Two national IdeaLabs take place with 2017 and 2018 Conferences.
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Participatory cultural mapping workshops will be held in the initial IdeaLabs to examine existing mapped cultural data and fill in gaps/add local area resources and inspirations. Results are used in later IdeaLabs to “connect creativity to place” and inform the development of pilot initiatives. Pilot Initiatives Partner cultural organizations will develop and implement an array of Pilot Initiatives (i.e., creative tourism offers). Pilot creative tourism offers are implemented in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Evaluations of the Pilot Initiatives, informed by knowledge base developed in research activities, the IdeaLabs, and through data streams developed in the project, provide regular analysis of the processes, outcomes, issues and impacts of the pilot initiatives [addressing Obj.1-‐4]. The research gathers data through data-‐forms filled by organizations, visitor-‐ participant questionnaires, site visits (and participant-‐observer field notes), ePortfolio contents, interviews, focus groups, and discussions at IdeaLabs and Conferences. Regular analysis and synthesis of data for formative evaluations will inform refinements of the pilot initiatives, later IdeaLabs, conferences, practitioner booklets and policy recommendations to address needs and gaps. Strengthening Network and Cluster Formation This dimension focuses on the development of post-‐project sustainability options and strategies. This work focuses attention to the broader relations among the organizations presenting creative tourism experiences, models and strategies for cross-‐sector alliances with tourism and other community actors, and roles for local authorities and regional agencies [Obj.5]. It is informed by, and developed through, interactions and discussions in IdeaLabs, cross-‐sectoral focus groups and meetings, consultations with Advisory Council, and international best practices. Research CREATOUR develops a system for monitoring and creating a baseline of knowledge to track macro-‐changes during the project and place project activities and findings in wider contexts. It includes 5 dimensions: 1. International scan and analysis of best practices and issues in creative tourism projects and networks 2. Cultural mapping 3. Inventory of cultural courses/workshops 4. Benchmark and analysis of visitor/tourism profiles 5. Benchmark and analysis of cultural/creative sector characteristics These research lines are brought together in a “meta-‐analysis” process to discuss and synthesize findings, conduct SWOT analyses by region and overall, identify key issues and elaborate implications, and interpret patterns that appear. This process will be conducted annually to provide a comprehensive view of the cultural and tourism sectors in the four regions and a general knowledge base from which to launch pilot creative tourism initiatives. Annual Conferences The annual conferences will be 4 days long: 3 days of activities open to the general public (keynote speakers' sessions) and to a more specific audience (IdeaLabs, professional training sessions), and 1 day of internal meetings (for Project and Steering Committees, Advisory Council). The conference will take place in a different region each year (Centro; Norte; Algarve) in May of 2017, 2018, and 2019. The final conference will feature a Creative Tourism Showcase. 4
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Publications Three types of publications will be developed: academic, professional, and policy-‐oriented. Beyond individual scientific articles, CREATOUR will develop an international book and special issue of a scholarly journal. It will also develop two booklets on best practices and recommendations for action, directed to the cultural/creative and tourism sectors, and a briefing report with policy recommendations, directed to local authorities and regional agencies (culture, tourism, regional development etc.). An English booklet will share CREATOUR's experience internationally. Other Outputs •
An electronic portal hosting project materials, including cultural maps with App interactivity [Obj.7] and ePortfolios
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An online course (MA level)
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A series of advanced training sessions
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A final documentary -‐ IdeaLabs, conferences, meetings, and pilot projects will be documented (photos, video, interviews, field notes etc.) to create a documentary of activities and findings.
06.10.2016
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